So you’re watching a nice pro wrestling match, enjoying the athletics and scientific holds, and suddenly it takes a violent swerve. One of the wrestlers will grab a towel, or a rope, or chain, or bootlace, or microphone cord, or article of clothing and twist it around his opponent’s neck. What is happening here? Suddenly we’re not in Kansas any more. Suddenly we’re in a dark sadistic place where competitors will do whatever it takes, even strangle the opponent, to dominate and win. The fun and games are now deadly serious, and you can’t look away because violence is fascinating and you need to see what happens next to the poor victim. If you like watching pro wrestling, you probably also like it when a match jumps the tracks like this.
This brutality brings to mind several questions: Is he sick and twisted for trying to hurt his opponent like that? Why isn’t someone trying to rescue the choking victim before he passes out? Will the cheater be arrested later for one count of attempted homicide? How can they show this on TV? And why would any wrestler agree to get in the ring with this freak if he always strangles his victims? And why does the crowd seem to enjoy witnessing these blatant acts of violence, and to worship and respect the cheaters who get in the ring with a choke rope stashed in their trunks? If you’re hoping for answers to all these questions, sorry, I don’t know why. It’s part of the magical and mysterious allure of pro wrestling.
Maybe the fans loves them some dirty rasslin’ because man can’t live on clean scientific matches alone, so a wrestler pulling off his belt and violently throttling some pretty boy while everyone watches in horror can be a welcome novelty after a series of run-of-the-mill back and forth competitions. Variety is the spice of life after all, and most people like their wrestling with a heaping portion of spice.
Wrestlers quickly realized how much the fans loved to see a bad guy break the rules and started choking one another all the time. The crazier and more sadistic the wrestlers behaved, the quicker the arenas would sell out. The violence and brutality in the ring soon became surreal, an alternative universe where psychopaths were given free reign to strangle, tie up, and generally punish the popular pretty-boy wrestlers using all sorts of weaponry.
The fans seemed to favor the villains who were totally unrestrained — who would toss out the rule-book and blatantly strangle their competition right in front of the ref and the cameras. They love the villain because he ignores the rules! Maybe people in the modern world are feeling a bit too restrained by laws, policies, taxes, political correctness, etc. so they enjoy seeing a bad boy thumb his nose at The Man. Maybe the violence and nastiness of a dirty pro wrestling match offers society a release of their frustrations and aggression from being constantly restricted. It’s better if they blow off some steam watching a heel throttling his opponent than if they riot.
The rabid fans were so fascinated by the occasional choke-out that the promoters soon created some bizarre specialty matches that guaranteed plenty of strangulation and probably some blood too. They invented Indian Strap Matches, Dog Collar Matches, Cowbell Matches, and Lumberjack Chain Matches. Basically the two wrestlers would be tied together like animals and permitted to use the rope or chain to hurt the other man as much as possible, usually by wrapping it around his throat. And guess what? The fans loved it, turning out in droves whenever a freaky, violent match of this nature was advertised.
There is another aspect to the appeal of graphic images of choking: breath control is a turn-on for some people. Google it if you don’t believe me. There is a whole genre of porn dedicated to scenes of people getting grabbed by the neck, choked, gasping for air, etc. Maybe the wrestlers realize that a good number of people are into watching a helpless victim straining to get some air, so they act out these scenes to entertain and titillate those who are into it.
Having been a member of many wrestling clubs thru the years, ( over 25 ) When it came to choking and this blog, I flashed back to a match I had with an X-Pro Wrestler, sometime in the late 80’s in NYC. Awesome guy, built, goodlooking and knew his sh*t when it came to working a jobber ( me ) over. In our Pro Gear, boots inclusive, we got down to business and wrestled. After a good 15 minutes of this man pounding and punishing me with all his Heel know-how, me dazed and quite weakened by his onslaught, was soon to tap out, or just surrender to his next form of distruction. I was totally “spent” for sure. Altho at that point I had no idea as to what he had stored in his arsenal, as to finishing me off. Draging me to my feet ( by my hair ) he clamped me in a side headlock, where he then lined his fist up with my forehead, drilling in a shot that sent me first to my knees, then face first to the mat. Dazed from this, I had no time to react, other than to roll to my back in agony. Opening my eyes once on my back, I saw this incredible man standing to the side of my head and shoulders, staring down at me. What came next was something I would never forget and yes… fantacize about a million times thru the years. He planted one boot to my throat and at the same time, stepped onto my heaving chest with the other. His full 210lb weight standing atop me, I knew I was in trouble and first reaction was to try and get his boot/foot from my throat. I grabbed at his boot with both hands in an attempt, or at least to ease the pressure from my throat, but being the Heel he was, he leaned his weight into the foot against my throat which told me it was time to tap out. Slapping his boot, calf, the mat….he knew he had gotten what he wanted…..seeing a jobber suffer, then surrender.
Since that match, every one I have had, whether I jobbed or heeled, one of us would be a victim of a boot choke……as to me, there is nothing hotter than seeing a boot heading into my throat, or me standing above my victim, and letting him see my boot heading into his throat. A MAJOR RUSH !
Omg, the boot choke has always been my fave move! It’s such a rush when you can just FEEL the boot about to be planted into your throat. You flail helplessly, even grasp at the boot to try to remove it from your throat but to no avail. AWESOMENESS!!!!
the destruction of a stud is the Heaven